Short-Term Health Insurance Can Be A Life Saver

Rising medical costs make individual health insurance a necessity. One accident, one serious illness, or one debilitating condition can destroy a lifetime of wealth. Occasionally, individuals may find themselves temporarily without individual health insurance due to graduating from college, changing jobs, or becoming too old to remain on their parents' policy.

The solution is short-term health insurance. These policies allow you to purchase individual health insurance from health insurance companies for periods of 12 to 36 months, 12 months being the norm. By investing in short-term health insurance, you are protecting yourself from potential physical and financial disaster.

The Importance Of Health Insurance

Individual health insurance not only provides you with preventative measures such as immunizations and regular exams, but they also allow you to receive early diagnosis for more serious conditions, which makes treatment far more effective. Studies have shown that uninsured individuals are 30-50% more likely to require medical attention for avoidable conditions than those with independent health insurance.

If you're young and healthy, you may not believe individual health insurance is necessary or worth the money. However, consider that a single emergency room visit averages $3,300. If you don't have that kind of money to throw around, the cost of individual health insurance looks far more affordable.

Short-Term Health Insurance Gets You Through Transitions

Short-term or temporary insurance policies provide you with coverage during transition periods of your life, regardless of your age. Since these policies are underwritten, you generally must be healthy to qualify. Individuals with pre-existing conditions normally cannot get short-term health insurance. Health insurance companies are willing to provide short-term policies only because they do not expect you to file a claim.

Short-term individual health insurance is generally less expensive than other types of insurance. If you lose your access to a job-related policy or your parents' policy, you may be able to extend those policies through COBRA, the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act, so long as certain conditions are met, but even those policies tend to be more expensive than short-term policies. In addition, you must become knowledgeable about your rights and responsibilities before allowing a policy through COBRA to lapse. A lapsed policy causes you to lose many of your rights. You may be denied coverage for pre-existing conditions and you may be ineligible to purchase an independent health insurance policy later on.

Know What You Are Buying And What You Must Pay

Many healthy individuals are able to receive short-term comprehensive coverage for as little as $100 each month. For some, the premium may be even less. The important things to know before signing onto a policy are what is covered, how much you must pay, and any other restrictions or responsibilities the insurance company requires of you.

Short-term individual health insurance does not generally cover preventative care. Short-term insurance is useful in cases that require hospitalization, expensive diagnosis, or emergency care. It is important to understand how your deductible works and how much it is. If your deductible is too high, you will be paying for much of your medical care yourself. If your deductible is too low, it will cause your premiums to increase.

Short-term individual health insurance is an inexpensive way you can protect yourself against serious illness or injury during periods of transition in your life. There are specific limitations to coverage, but short-term insurance is far better than no insurance at all.

Health Care Plans that Don’t Cut It

The self-employed and un-insured have a difficult time finding affordable health care coverage these days. The pitfall that they often fall into is in looking for a plan based on price alone. Then, once they have to use the plan, they discover that it does not have near the coverage that they need. With that in mind, here are some ways that you can identify a health care plan that is less than acceptable.

Affordable? There is sometimes a difference between the use of the word ‘affordable’ and the reality of that term. Taking a closer look at the plans that are offered, there is no discernable difference in coverage over some other plans.

Unlimited costs. If there is no ceiling placed on out-of-pocket costs in the plan offered, you could be hit with unending charges. You might also encounter policies that do not have a co-payment for doctor’s visits or prescription drugs that apply to the maximum. If you find yourself with a condition that requires constant office visits to monitor your progress, these costs will mount up quickly.

Category limitations. The opposite of the above would be limits on certain types of treatments that leave you with higher costs. For example, hospital and outpatient medical procedures, and imaging type of tests. If you must accept some limitations, make sure that they are on things like rehabilitation, medical equipment and mental health care.

Left out for a reason. Looking through the offerings of a given policy tells what is covered and what is not. But you also need to ask about things that are not listed. They might not be listed for a reason: they are not covered. And, unfortunately, it might be that way by design. Bring it up before you sign up.

Red flag words. Advertisements that use the words “not major medical insurance” or “limited benefits” are cautionary terms that should cause you to avoid the policy. If you are expecting full coverage, then you will find that these policies are less than adequate and at best are only appropriate as a supplemental plan.

Coverage Limits. Limits in coverage of $100,000 or less should be avoided. Major medical operations can easily surpass these caps. Heart attacks, strokes and even cancer which requires major surgery are the top medical procedures and will exceed these limits quite easily.

Low premiums with a price. These so called “affordable” premiums come from companies that require you to be healthy while they provide coverage that is thin from the start The better approach is to begin your search from the best polices available and then move down to the more affordable ones. With this method, you will be able to avoid coverage that is inadequate.

Small details. Sometimes the small details can be just as dangerous as the large. Be on the watch for things like policies that do not begin coverage until the second day of your hospital stay. Consider that your most expensive charges usually happen on the first day (surgeries and procedures). If you have a policy like this, then you will not be covered for those amounts.

Examine health insurance policies very carefully before signing up. You would do well to consult with an independent insurance agent who knows health policies and can direct you to a policy that fits your circumstances.